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In some ways it might be tempting not to bother
with a post script this time, as even now in February 2014, as I come to the
conclusion of my story, the thoughts of what happened at the start of the 2013
24 Heures du Mans remain pretty raw for everyone, particularly those who were
there and when summing up a Le Mans trip, Allan's accident is obviously the
first thing that comes to mind. But if you'll forgive me, I'm not going to
dwell on it any more. Much has been said and written, far more eloquently
than I could manage, so I'm going to leave it there and concentrate on what was
otherwise a fantastic trip. RIP Allan.
Well, I had a great time. If I was ever in
doubt about the fact that I need to do the longer trip, 2013 dispelled any such
doubts. OK, the weather did us relatively few favours this year, but we
were pretty lucky, we didn't really get seriously wet at any time during the
week. In fact, the wettest James and I got was in our search for the
Pontlieu hairpin on the Tuesday!
There's been quite a lot said about the
Audi/Porsche battle in this year's race, some of which I consider to have been
pretty unfair to Toyota, when you consider what they were taking on. They
weren't fast enough - but only just - and ultimately it was Audi who had a
greater share of reliability issues than Toyota did. With the return of
Porsche to LMP1 in 2014, the three-way battle should be something to behold!
But it was the fact that there were battles up and
down the field that made the race so exciting. LMP2 was astonishing all
the way through and the Aston Martin v Porsche contest was fully fought right to
the end. I'm not the greatest of GT fans, I primarily watch the LMPs, but
I thought the GT races were extraordinarily good this year.
And as to the rest of the week? Well, it was
superbly arranged as always by James. Excellent journeys, perfect
'lodgings' and both James and Tony were the perfect company, as always.
As I write this, I'm still trying to save my
pennies for Le Mans 2014. It's been another hard year and I have one or
two obstacles to get over before I'll be able to enjoy this year's race, which
is now only just over four months away. It's incredible just how quickly
time does fly.... See you in four months.
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